Five people died after a helicopter crashed Sunday in the East River Strait in New York city.

After the accident, authorities reported two deaths and three serious injuries, but early in the night, New York police said the five passengers lost their lives in the crash.

Six people were aboard the helicopter, a Eurocopter AS350 that was chartered for a photo shoot at the time of the accident, around 7 pm.

According to the New York police, only the pilot managed to extricate himself from the machine and then be rescued by a boat that was passing by.

The accident occurred near the mayor’s official residence, Gracie Mansion. A flotilla of boats rushed to search for survivors.

On Twitter, several videos show a red helicopter that seems to attempt to land on the water, but that quickly switches into the river.

Witnesses told local media that the water had quickly infiltrated the helicopter.

It’s cold water. He sank very quickly. Before we could arrive on the scene, we did not see him anymore. He was under the surface.

Mary Lee, a witness to the accident addressing the New York Post

It was police and fire divers who took the five passengers out of the helicopter.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the government agency responsible for control and regulation of US civil aviation, has ensured that an investigation has been opened. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will determine the causes of the accident, the FAA said.

The helicopter belongs to the company Liberty Helicopters, which offers tours very popular with tourists.

This is not the first time a helicopter has run aground in the East River in New York. In 2009, a tourist helicopter of the same model and owned by the same company as the one involved in Sunday’s crash collided with a small private plane on the Hudson River, killing nine people, including a group of Italian tourists.

On October 4, 2011 , a plane carrying five passengers was also stranded in the water, causing the death of a British tourist visiting the city for its 40th anniversary.